>>>> Well, I wish this would have all be expressed on his order site.
>
>I see your point. But just so you know, MARCH can 100% vouch for Vince.
>He's a great guy, his products are top-notch, and he's been a loyal
>supporter of our VCF East.

I didn't say anything about him. I was just wondering when I might be
seeing this kit. 6-8 weeks from Ohio is a crawl across PA. And here I
thought I'd have a free weekend and something to do with it.

Bill Degnan

... for ... I don t want to speak for Vince, I have no idea. He sells kits, he may have a local outfit that assembles for him, he may have a staff that does

Message 2 of 27
, Nov 5, 2010

> >He may have to assemble the unit himself, etc. I don't want to speak

for

> >Vince, he occasionally posts here.
> >Bill Degnan
>
> Assemble it himself? You mean collect the parts?
>
> Well, I wish this would have all be expressed on his order site.
>

I don't want to speak for Vince, I have no idea. He sells kits, he may
have a local outfit that assembles for him, he may have a staff that does
that work. He is a professional and will deliver. He is very hightly
respected in our hobby for a reason.

Bill

Richard Cini

I was thinking like Jim Brain¹s CBM- PS2 interface to use a real Commodore keyboard with the VICE emulator (running on a PC). It definitely is a small market

Message 3 of 27
, Nov 7, 2010

Re: [midatlanticretro] Re: WTD-serial terminalI was thinking like Jim Brain’s CBM->PS2 interface to use a real Commodore keyboard with the VICE emulator (running on a PC). It definitely is a small market for something like that but when replicating “look and feel” it would be handy to have.

There are several issues with producing an encoded ASCII to PS2 keyboard interface converter, so I'd be surprised to see one made.

1) You may have a couple of encoded ASCII keyboards, but the keyboards are rather scarce, which limits the market. Quite a few Apple-1 clone builders end up scrounging them from complete Apple II plus computers.
2) Sequences like control-alt-delete being held down on a PS/2 keyboard would be tricky to replicate, because a typical parallel ASCII keyboard interface doesn't present state information about a key being currently up or down.

I have made a batch of adapter kits that go the other way, PS/2 keyboard to parallel ASCII, but that was done primarily because of 1) above. I think Vince put a PS/2 interface on his replica-1 for the same reason.

Regards,
Mike Willegal

--- In midatlanticretro@yahoogroups.com <mailto:midatlanticretro%40yahoogroups.com> , Richard Cini <rich.cini@...> wrote:
>
> Ok, one more thought. Does anyone know of a reasonable parallel-to-PS/2
> converter? I have an ASCII keyboard or two laying around and with the proper
> encoding could be used with the PS/2 interface on the Pocketerm. I did some
> searching and there are quite a few for MAME arcade build-outs (I have one),
> but they use discrete switch inputs to ground and convert it to a keyboard
> character.
>
> More Googling ahead...
>
>
> On 11/2/10 7:45 PM, "Richard Cini" <rich.cini@...> wrote:
>
> > On 11/2/10 8:17 AM, "Gene Buckle" <geneb@...> wrote:
> > On Mon, 1 Nov 2010, Richard Cini wrote:
> >>
> >>> > Gene --
> >>> >
> >>> > Actually I looked into it after I saw this email. It’s a great item but
> >>> > unless “packaged” correctly, it looses something in the look and feel
> >>> area.
> >>> > I guess with the right keyboard (like an IBM “clicky” keyboard) and a
> >>> custom
> >>> > case (like the MAME arcade kind of thing, but desktop), it could result in
> a
> >>> > good reproduction. The second serial port is a bonus, as you can use that
> >>> > (hopefully) as a paper tape input.
> >>> >
> >> It almost begs a nice wooden enclosure that would replace the Model M
> >> keyboard case as well as provide a housing for the PCB and maybe a 14"
> >> LCD. :)
> >>
> >
> > Look at this: eBay item 150514710557. It’s a Heath H9 terminal. Not being a
> > Heath guy, I didn’t know this existed. It’s about the right form factor,
> > approximately, for a hacked together Pocketerm and 14” LCD monitor. The case
> > could be wood and metal like the SOL or maybe something else. Hmmmm....
> >
> >
> > Rich
>
> --
> Rich Cini
> Collector of Classic Computers
> Build Master and lead engineer, Altair32 Emulator
> http://www.altair32.com
> http://www.classiccmp.org/cini
>

Hi Richard, There are several issues with producing an encoded ASCII to PS2 keyboard interface converter, so I d be surprised to see one made. 1) You may have

Message 4 of 27
, Nov 7, 2010

Hi Richard,

There are several issues with producing an encoded ASCII to PS2 keyboard interface converter, so I'd be surprised to see one made.

1) You may have a couple of encoded ASCII keyboards, but the keyboards are rather scarce, which limits the market. Quite a few Apple-1 clone builders end up scrounging them from complete Apple II plus computers.
2) Sequences like control-alt-delete being held down on a PS/2 keyboard would be tricky to replicate, because a typical parallel ASCII keyboard interface doesn't present state information about a key being currently up or down.

I have made a batch of adapter kits that go the other way, PS/2 keyboard to parallel ASCII, but that was done primarily because of 1) above. I think Vince put a PS/2 interface on his replica-1 for the same reason.

Regards,
Mike Willegal

--- In midatlanticretro@yahoogroups.com, Richard Cini <rich.cini@...> wrote:
>
> Ok, one more thought. Does anyone know of a reasonable parallel-to-PS/2
> converter? I have an ASCII keyboard or two laying around and with the proper
> encoding could be used with the PS/2 interface on the Pocketerm. I did some
> searching and there are quite a few for MAME arcade build-outs (I have one),
> but they use discrete switch inputs to ground and convert it to a keyboard
> character.
>
> More Googling ahead...
>
>
> On 11/2/10 7:45 PM, "Richard Cini" <rich.cini@...> wrote:
>
> > On 11/2/10 8:17 AM, "Gene Buckle" <geneb@...> wrote:
> > On Mon, 1 Nov 2010, Richard Cini wrote:
> >>
> >>> > Gene --
> >>> >
> >>> > Actually I looked into it after I saw this email. It¹s a great item but
> >>> > unless ³packaged² correctly, it looses something in the look and feel
> >>> area.
> >>> > I guess with the right keyboard (like an IBM ³clicky² keyboard) and a
> >>> custom
> >>> > case (like the MAME arcade kind of thing, but desktop), it could result in
> a
> >>> > good reproduction. The second serial port is a bonus, as you can use that
> >>> > (hopefully) as a paper tape input.
> >>> >
> >> It almost begs a nice wooden enclosure that would replace the Model M
> >> keyboard case as well as provide a housing for the PCB and maybe a 14"
> >> LCD. :)
> >>
> >
> > Look at this: eBay item 150514710557. It¹s a Heath H9 terminal. Not being a
> > Heath guy, I didn¹t know this existed. It¹s about the right form factor,
> > approximately, for a hacked together Pocketerm and 14² LCD monitor. The case
> > could be wood and metal like the SOL or maybe something else. Hmmmm....
> >
> >
> > Rich
>
> --
> Rich Cini
> Collector of Classic Computers
> Build Master and lead engineer, Altair32 Emulator
> http://www.altair32.com
> http://www.classiccmp.org/cini
>

Evan Koblentz

... Correct.

Message 5 of 27
, Nov 7, 2010

>>> I think Vince put a PS/2 interface on his replica-1 for the same reason

Correct.

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